WAR LETTERS
Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars.

Featuring Approximately 200 Previously Unpublished
Letters from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold
War, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Bosnia. (The paperback has been updated to include more letters and e-mails, including ones related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.)

What Others Are Saying

"Andrew Carroll has given America a priceless treasure.
These letters are intimate, deeply personal portraits of the courage,
sacrifice and sense of duty that made this country. They remind us that
greatness is borne on the shoulders of the ordinary men and women who
love their country and each other."  Tom Brokaw

"In the sweep of history the experience of the lone soldier is often lost,
but in this breathtaking collection the individual voices of the men and
women who have served this nation come to life with a power and an eloquence
that is both gripping and unforgettable. I can think of no better way to
understand the horrors of war than to read the words of those who were caught
in its grasp, and these extraordinary letters offer some of the most
dramatic, eyewitness accounts of war imaginable. Quite simply, this is one of
the greatest, most riveting books of War Letters I have ever read."
 Stephen E. Ambrose

"These War Letters are deeply moving, more revelatory and more powerful
than any dispatch from the front. It's the truly felt history of
what war is all about."  Studs Terkel

"Andrew Carroll has assembled a collection of previously unpublished letters
that run the gamut of wartime emotion.... An excellent compilation that I
enjoyed reading very much  and believe you will, too."
 John Glenn

"It was a war letter that moved me to write Flags of Our Fathers.
A letter my dad wrote four days after he helped raise the flag on Iwo
Jima. My father honored his country. Andrew Carroll honors us all with
his gift to the nation of the superb War Letters."  James Bradley,
son of "Doc" Bradley

About The Book

In 1998, Andrew Carroll founded the Legacy Project with the goal of
remembering Americans who have served this nation in wartime by seeking out
and preserving their letters. Since then, more than 50,000 war letters
discovered in basements, attics, scrapbooks, and old trunks have poured in
from around the country. The best of these letters are assembled in this
extraordinary collection, offering unprecedented insight into almost every American war.

Featured here are dramatic accounts of combat written immediately after the
most ferocious battles American troops have faced; poignant expressions of
love by homesick husbands and sweethearts; humorous anecdotes and gripes
about insufferable conditions; thoughtful reflections on the nature of
warfare; and perhaps most devastating, a startling number of last letters
penned just hours or days before the sender was killed.

War Letters is a testament to the heroic contributions and astonishing
literary voices of common soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors, as well
as war nurses, journalists, spies, and chaplains. There are also previously
unpublished letters by such legendary figures as William T. Sherman, Clara
Barton, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernie Pyle, Douglas MacArthur, Julia Child,
Dwight Eisenhower, Norman Schwarzkopf, and our nation's first black general,
Benjamin O. Davis Sr.

These historic letters capture the full fury and intensity of warfare,
and they reveal in vivid detail what the servicemen and women of America
have experienced and sacrificed on the front lines. War Letters
is a lasting tribute to those who have fought for this country, and a
celebration of the enduring power and lyricism of personal letters.